Philanthropy Forward '21

Dale Robinson Anglin joined the foundation in May 2017 as a consultant and was hired in October 2017 as program director for youth and social services. In her current role as vice president, program, Dale works to align the foundation’s grantmaking initiatives to the ongoing needs of diverse communities in Cuyahoga, Lake and Geauga counties.

Prior to joining the Cleveland Foundation, Dale was associate director for programs at the Victoria Foundation in Newark, NJ, where she was responsible for successful programming in higher education, STEM/STEAM, K-12 education, summer youth employment and leadership efforts. Dale has served as director of resource development for New Community Corporation in Newark, as the executive director of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management and was a social analyst for the Congressional Research Service, both in Washington D.C.

Dale earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in government and African American Studies from Smith College, and a master’s degree from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. She served as an Alfred P. Sloan/Association for Public Policy and Management Fellow.

Dale served on the Community Foundation of New Jersey board for nine years, the state’s largest community foundation, and she currently serves on the Charlotte Newcombe Foundation board. She is originally from Chicago and is excited to be back in the Midwest.

Erika L. Anthony, a native New Yorker, joined Ohio Transformation Fund (OTF) as executive director in December 2019. She has extensive experience in fund development and in pushing for state and local policy change on behalf of multiple organizations, all focused on racial equity and inclusion, civic engagement and transforming the criminal punishment system.

Before coming to OTF, Erika served as the vice president of government relations and strategy for Cleveland Neighborhood Progress. She has also been the director of business development at Oriana House Inc., project coordinator for a pilot reentry program at the Centers for Families and Children and held various roles in the legal sector.

Erika also co-founded both Cleveland VOTES and Hack Cleveland. She sits on a number of boards in Greater Cleveland, including Ideastream’s Community Advisory Board, Cuyahoga County Public Defender Commission, NOACA’s Community Advisory Council and CEO Works Advisory Board. Erika has served as an adjunct professor for a policy class at Case Western Reserve University, Mandel School of Applied Sciences. She has also participated in a number of leadership programs including: 2014 Cleveland Bridge Builders, 2014 Fellowship with New Leaders Council and the 2017-18 Leadership Now Ohio program (funded by OTF and led by Rockwood Leadership Institute).

​Erika holds a B.S. in psychology from The Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Public Administration from the Maxine G. Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University. Erika and her husband Brian reside in Cleveland; enjoy travelling, biking and spending time with family and friends.

Mike Baker is chief impact strategy officer at United Way of Greater Cincinnati and currently leads the organization's strategy to respond to changing community needs related to the COVID-19 pandemic. He provides leadership for a portfolio of over $36 million in philanthropic investments to more than 150 community organizations and nonprofits. He brings strategic guidance and innovation skills to help stabilize Greater Cincinnati social systems of support for families; leads organizational efforts to increase direct supports for families; modernizes United Way's approach to empower families to get support where they live, work and worship; and leads efforts to innovate programs and systems in a rapidly changed community.

Previously, he was the director of community impact for United Way, overseeing the organization’s social innovation programming including a human-centered design training program and an innovation incubator that uses skilled volunteers to test and develop community-based concepts.

He led the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Social Innovation Fund, a $5.5 million public/private partnership that provided growth funding to high impact organizations working in education and financial stability services.

He began his career with United Way as a strategic resources specialist focused on grants and foundation relations. In this role, he secured more than $12 million in funding for United Way including more than $6.5 million in federal grants to support key community efforts in the Cincinnati region.

Named as one of the Cincinnati Business Courier's Forty Under 40 in 2017, he holds both a Master of Public Affairs in nonprofit management and a Master of Arts in Journalism from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Wabash College.

Jeremy Ball is Vice President of Internal Communications, Philanthropy, and Events for Big Lots and Director of the Big Lots Foundation. Ball joined Big Lots in June 2007. He is responsible for the company’s internal and executive communications, national philanthropic initiatives, including charitable giving, associate volunteerism, cause marketing, community relations and corporate events. During his tenure, he established a comprehensive philanthropic and associate engagement program and a public face for the company’s philanthropic initiatives.

In partnership with the executive leadership team, Ball launched the Big Lots Foundation in 2014 to position the organization’s philanthropic goals for long-term sustainability and impact. His work includes directing the company’s annual fundraising event, which has raised more than $30 million over the last 10 years. In addition, he’s responsible for the company’s quarterly Town Hall events and national leadership conferences.

Ball serves on the Board of Directors for Furniture Bank of Central Ohio and the Board of Trustees for Defiance College. He was honored by Columbus Business First in 2021 with a C-Suite award for being voted by his peers as one of Central Ohio’s most admired executives and in 2014 with a Forty Under 40 Award. He holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Defiance College and was honored with the college’s Harold A. McMaster Life Is Action Award in 2016, and the Young Alumni Service Award in 2009.

Dr. Jessica M. Barron is a trained sociologist and demographer, dedicated to racial and gender equity. She serves as a senior consultant at Frontline Solutions - a national, Black-owned social impact consulting firm where she leads the DEI and research portfolios. Barron is also a writer and researcher. Her work is published and awarded across the academic and philanthropic sectors. Nominated for book of the year, Barron’s The Urban Church Imagined (NYU Press) addresses contemporary diversity and inclusion efforts among one of the nation’s most preeminent organizational structures—religious congregations. Barron is a Los Angeles native and holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Texas A&M University.

Courtenay A. Barton joined the foundation in September 2017 as a National Urban Fellow and was hired in September 2018 as Program Manager for Arts & Culture. Courtenay has more than 12 years’ experience in nonprofit management in media, arts, and education. Prior to joining the foundation, Courtenay was the Associate Director of Stewardship at the Brooklyn College Foundation. She also had roles at New York City’s public television station Thirteen/WNET and the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Courtenay earned a bachelor of arts degree in English, Creative Writing, and African American Studies from Columbia University. She also received a master of public administration degree from Bernard M. Baruch College, Marxe School of Public and International Affairs. Her Master’s thesis, “A Foundation for Equity: Philanthropic Strategies to End Racial Inequity in Cleveland” won a Philip J. Rutledge Award for Outstanding Academic Capstone Achievement.

Nia is unabashed in her dedication to others. From her work helping reform the clerk of court’s office, to the time spent improving educational systems at Strive Partnership and KnowledgeWorks, she is committed to bringing more equity and justice into our city. We are grateful for Nia's passion, but can think of one group that may sometimes wish she would take it a bit easier, since she has no qualms calling for early morning or late night practices as the head track coach at Clark Montessori!

Nelson is the program director for neighborhood revitalization & engagement. He rejoined the foundation in January 2018 after spending four years at Saint Luke’s Foundation, where he served as senior program officer for a Strong Neighborhood. In that role, Nelson oversaw their Strong Neighborhood program, with the goal of making enhancements to the built environment and improving social conditions in the Buckeye-Shaker, Mt. Pleasant and Woodland Hills neighborhoods. Before that, Nelson served as program officer for the Cleveland Foundation’s responsive grantmaking, focusing on community development, environmental sustainability and program management of the summer internship program.

Nelson has also worked for the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization, University Hospitals Health System, Cole Managed Vision and the American Red Cross. Nelson also served with the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry). He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in psychology from Cleveland State University. Nelson and his wife are empty nesters and live in the Old Brooklyn neighborhood of Cleveland.

Essma Bengabsia is a senior associate on the sustainable and impact investing team. Ms. Bengabsia is responsible for researching and identifying sustainable and impact investment opportunities in global public markets. Prior to joining Glenmede, Ms. Bengabsia was a product strategist in BlackRock's credit group, where she primarily focused on collateralized loan obligations and bank loans. In this role, she assisted with structuring collateralized loan obligations, providing market research to traders and expanding BlackRock's credit platform with institutional investors. 

Ms. Bengabsia earned a Bachelor of Science degree from New York University’s Stern School of Business. She completed Harvard Business School’s HBX Core Certification and Ethica Institute’s Certified Islamic Finance Executive program. Ms. Bengabsia is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, Alumni Advisor for New York University’s Islamic Finance Group and member of the Women in Investing Network of Philadelphia. 

Over the past 10 years, Joseph Black has invested his time, energy and passion to create equitable solutions that benefit the residents in the city of Cleveland. As the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland health equity program officer, Joseph is responsible for funding innovative health and safety strategies.

Joseph is a proud member of the Neighborhood Leadership Development Program Cohort 8, Neighborhood Leadership Cleveland Class of 32 and National Urban Fellows Class of 2017. Motivated by his pledge to serve those most in need, Joseph is committed to changing policies that oppress marginalized communities. Most recently Joseph has enjoyed implementing a strategy with the Cleveland Police Department known as the Reverse Ride. As a result of his efforts, nearly 450 officers have connected with more than 2,500 residents throughout the city. Joseph also serves on the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority Board of Commissioners as the vice-chair and the Hitchcock Center for Women Board of Directors, chairing the fund development and marketing committee.

While undeniably devoted to his work in the community, Joseph is equally committed to his family. Joseph affectionately loves his wife, Amber and sons Jordan and Isaac to whom he admits keep him grounded.

In 1989, Tracy Carter began her career at Summa Health Akron City Hospital as an INROADS intern. She ultimately assumed leadership responsibility of the health system’s external affairs functions. Under her leadership, the system earned regional and state awards for its diversity and corporate citizenship efforts.

In 2018, Carter was recognized by Modern Healthcare and Becker’s Hospital Review as one of the top minority executives in health care. She is most proud of her work in co-chairing a collaborative that helped 60,000 Akron-Canton residents gain health coverage through Ohio’s Medicaid expansion program. In 2016, she continued to advocate for regional health care opportunities by serving as vice president of government relations for Ohio's second largest public health system, The MetroHealth System.

Carter is a skilled business advocate. She has been effective in obtaining multiple federal exemptions to assist her employers with their patient care, reimbursement and organizational structure priorities. These exemptions have yielded more than $200 million in economic benefit to the region.

In late 2019, Carter returned to Summa Health to lead the system’s public policy and funding interests with federal, state and local government leaders.

Carter provides leadership to civic priorities. She serves as vice chair of The Akron Civil Service Commission. She is a member of the Akron Community Foundation and The Well CDC boards of directors. Carter also volunteers with Love Akron and the Greater Cleveland COVID-19 Rapid Response Fund Phase II Strategy Team.

She is a proud graduate of the Leadership Akron and Cleveland programs.

Lawrence Daniel Caswell has worked in non-commercial community media for over 27 years, including 11 years at Ideastream Public Media. Caswell is currently field coordinator for Cleveland Documenters, where he uses his knowledge and experience to equip Cleveland residents with tools to better participate in local government, and to build community around the exchange of civic knowledge. A lifelong Northeast Ohioan, Caswell lives in the Collinwood neighborhood of Cleveland with his partner and daughter.

John Church, CFA, is Glenmede’s director of endowment and foundation (E&F) impact portfolio management. In this role, he provides investment advice and portfolio management for endowment, foundation and not-for-profit clients, particularly those with impact-aligned mandates. He is responsible for portfolio construction, sourcing impact-aligned investment strategies and implementing new technologies and best practices to help E&F clients achieve their mission. 

Prior to this role, Mr. Church served as a portfolio manager and provided investment advice for E&F and not-for-profit clients. Prior to that, he worked in Glenmede’s Manager Research Group, performing due diligence on equity, fixed income, hedge fund and other strategies. He is a voting member of Glenmede’s E&F Investment Committee. He sits on the E&F Operating Committee and the Manager Research and Private Investment Committees.

Mr. Church received a Bachelor of Science degree, cum laude, in business from Skidmore College. 

Mr. Church is a Chartered Financial Analyst® charterholder and an active member of the CFA Society of Philadelphia. He is a trustee for the Scattergood Foundation, trustee and treasurer for St. Mark’s Church in Philadelphia, an investment committee member for YMCA of Greater Brandywine, a member of the Haverford School Leadership Council and treasurer for the Orpheus Club of Philadelphia, the oldest men’s singing group of its kind in the country. Mr. Church is a nationally recognized speaker at industry conferences and events.

Daniel Cohn serves as vice president of strategy with the Mt. Sinai Health Foundation, where he leads grantmaking in community health and public policy. In this role, Dan oversees the foundation’s local and state policy agenda, with a particular focus on maternal and infant health, early childhood development and access to high-quality health care. He is known for his leadership in helping launch several cross-sector, public-private partnerships including the Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition and the Greater Cleveland COVID-19 Rapid Response Fund.

He has been the recipient of several awards including the Emerging Leader in Philanthropy Award from Philanthropy Ohio, the Community Collaboration Award from the Ohio Environmental Council and the inaugural Health Champion of the Year Award from the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. In 2019, he was recognized as one among the “20 in their 20’s” by Crain’s Cleveland Business for his ability to forge action-oriented, community collaboratives that contribute to a brighter future for the region.

Kai Cotton is the Lead Youth Navigator at A Place 4 Me. She works closely with peers to navigate them into housing and other resources with a goal to enhance as many lives as she can. She has an extensive history working with non-profits and work development programs that focus on the economic success of young adults. Along with her career in social services, she is an National Foster Care Advocate with the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative & an artist and uses her talents to bring happiness to others. 

Background
Michelle Cramer is passionate about the power of philanthropy to ignite change. Her entrepreneurial spirit and compelling fundraising ability have excelled her in a profession she describes as “her life’s calling.” And her passion is contagious.

Expertise & Skills
Michelle and her team develop innovative and progressive fundraising strategies for nonprofit organizations throughout the country. The firm’s portfolio of successful capital campaigns and projects includes Franklin Park Conservatory, St. Vincent Family Center, Mount Carmel Foundation / St. Ann’s Hospital, Directions For Youth & Families and The Ohio State University. Most recently, Cramer & Associates conducted a Feasibility Study and Strategic Fundraising Plan for a $6 million capital campaign for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio. The campaign, with its bold fundraising model, is near completion and will make it the largest Ronald McDonald House in the world.

Success Stories

• Co-founded Hodge, Cramer & Associates in 1987, which changed its name to Cramer & Associates in 2009.
• Contributing author, The NonProfit Consulting Playbook: Strategies From 25 Leaders In the Field.
• Recognized by the Association of Fundraising Professionals as the 2015 Outstanding Fundraising Professional

Other

• Dean, AFP/GI Consultants School at the AFP International Fundraising Conference
• Highlighted speaker, 2008 AFP Hemispheric Conference on Fundraising
• Executive Committee, Board of Directors, Giving Institute
• Board Member, The Catholic Foundation
• Board Member, The Dublin Foundation
• Board Member, Ohio Association of Nonprofit Organizations

She brings a broad perspective of leadership and fundraising through her experience with non-profit organizations, a corporate charity and a community foundation. She is passionate about addressing poverty and equity issues by igniting public will and inspiring individuals, companies and foundations to collaborate in new ways. She is a past president of the Greater Cincinnati Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and has worked extensively on the chapter’s diversity and inclusion efforts including the creation of a diversity pipeline program called New Faces of Fundraising. She was named to the 2014 class of the Cincinnati Business Courier’s Forty under 40. She currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for Beyond Civility, a non-profit dedicated to helping citizens and civic leaders explore the barriers and bridges to effective dialogue.

Kendra Davis is a member of the Women’s Fund Advisory Council. Through her work with Cohear, a community engagement company connecting decision makers with everyday experts, and Champions of Change, a leadership program for folks seeking to advance Black-led ideas, she’s grown into a fiery voice fighting for grassroots change from within. Kendra is passionate about affordable housing for the Cincinnati area. Kendra is employed at the IRS as a tax examiner. She has one daughter.

Craig Dorn, president and CEO, joined Y.O.U. in 1989. Craig has headed operations, programs and strategic planning throughout his Y.O.U. career. In addition, he has led efforts to create a culture that gathers and uses data to drive decision-making. These efforts led to Y.O.U. being recognized by the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation as one of only 13 organizations nationwide selected for its PropelNext initiative. He has also built numerous partnerships and collaborations with schools, community-based organizations, municipalities and faith-based institutions to help Y.O.U. realize its vision of a greater community working together to ensure every young person is ready to pursue a path to economic self-sufficiency.

Craig has served on several committees and boards including the United Way Vision Council on Strong Families/Successful Children; Cuyahoga County Workforce Investment Act Youth Council; and Adoption Network Cleveland, where he served a term as vice chair. Currently he serves as secretary of the Literacy Cooperative Board; a member of the Bowling Green State University Honors College Advisory Council and the Cuyahoga Community College Workforce Board of Visitors. Craig is a graduate of the Leadership Cleveland Civic Leadership Institute. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University and an M.S. in education from Syracuse University.

Ace Epps was born in Cleveland in 1970 and later moved to Akron where he graduated from Buchtel High School. Ace attended Kent State University and The University of Akron studying Pan African American History and Organizational Supervision. In 2004 Ace took a job at the Oriana House, a local community based correctional facility.

There he served as a recruitment assistant and resident supervisor where he worked with mental health, violent and nonviolent ex-offenders as well as dual diagnosed clients.

At the Akron Urban League in 2008, Ace served as a job developer and a business counselor for 8 years. He is a certified facilitator and business counselor who specializes in workforce development and business creation.

Ace has over 20 years of experience working in the nonprofit sector. He also hosts a weekly podcast/radio show called “Akron Community Voice” and produces local podcasters through his own company called The Self Advancement Center LLC/Be You Podcasting Company.

From 2015 to 2019, Ace served as a Community Manager and Fellowship Director for Akron BMe Community, a national organization leading in diversity, inclusion and equity. In 2019, Ace created a new workforce development program and curriculum for a local nonprofit organization called OPEN M.

Ace currently serves as the director of inclusive entrepreneurship for an Akron-based tech and non-tech entrepreneur organization called Bounce innovation Hub. There, Ace runs the GROW program. GROW offers three programming tracks that develop the entrepreneurial spirit and help strengthen the minority small businesses community in Akron.

Benjamin D. Faller is a partner at Trzaska Rosen Faller, LLC, a Cleveland-area law firm providing community-minded legal counsel to individuals, small-businesses and nonprofits and a co-founder of Modern Title, a Cleveland-based title insurance, escrow and closing agency. He was formerly a clinical lecturer at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where he taught and practiced in the Community Development Clinic, supervising and mentoring third-year law students as they represented community-focused nonprofits and businesses in the Cleveland area.

He received his B.A. from St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN, and his J.D. from Case Western Reserve University, between which he worked as a bicycle mechanic; founded and ran his own business as general contractor and carpenter in Western Montana; almost became a plumber; and lived in South Africa for a time.

After discovering a passion for housing law, Faller began his legal career as a staff attorney and later the chief housing specialist for the Cleveland Housing Court, where he worked to expand the court’s problem-solving programs and engaged in a range of outreach and policywork on housing and property issues. He subsequently served as the executive director for Home Repair Resource Center, where he led the organization to expand its reach and profile, while also teaching Community Development Law and Mediation at CWRU as an adjunct professor of law.

A strong believer in the power of the arts to bring people together, he served as the first chairperson of the board of Larchmere PorchFest, a nonprofit neighborhood-focused music festival. Faller currently serves on the executive committee and as the co-chair of the Tax Lien/Delinquent Tax Working Group of the Vacant and Abandoned Property Action Council (VAPAC) and is a partner, director and treasurer for Social Venture Partners Cleveland, a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening nonprofits and tackling community social challenges.

Joe Flarida is the executive director of Power a Clean Future Ohio, an expansive coalition of organizations that works with cities and municipalities in Ohio to develop community-driven carbon reduction strategies. Power a Clean Future Ohio empowers local governments and community members by providing tools and resources to implement climate action plans and clean energy policies that are achievable, measurable, equitable, and economical.

Joe previously worked as a Congressional staffer in the U.S. House of Representatives for the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. In 2019, he returned to Ohio after completing a fellowship in Germany serving as a Robert Bosch Fellow in Berlin and Heidelberg, where he examined Germany’s energy transition and consulted for the German Energy Agency and InnoEnergy. He is driven to help local communities across Ohio address climate change in big ways and small ways that make sense for them. 

Holley Fowler Martens serves as a trustee and administrator for The Char and Chuck Fowler Family Foundation. A licensed independent social worker, she integrates her social work background in her role as foundation administrator, bringing a unique perspective to the grantmaking process.

Upon graduating from CWRU Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences in 2007, Holley was employed by Shaker Heights Youth Center and placed in Student Assistance at Shaker Heights Middle School. There she worked with students, families and school staff on student academic success and school affiliation. She created partnerships with prevention providers and coalitions in Northeast Ohio while organizing community engagement programs and projects pertaining to student social and emotional health. She also facilitated groups focusing on social, therapeutic, leadership and violence prevention utilizing evidence-based curriculum.

Community involvement has always been a priority of Holley’s. Her undergraduate degree in psychology from DePaul University (1990) aided her in working with several youth-serving organizations, ranging from a half-way house for teens in San Diego to designing an alcohol, tobacco and other drug prevention program for Cleveland area middle schoolers. The resiliency witnessed, in both volunteer and work experience, in many of these adolescents invigorates Holley and provides hope while knowing the steep incline and hurdles many of these victimized youth have to reach normal functioning adulthood.

Holley and her husband Rob have lived in the Cleveland area since 2001 and have three children, Alycia, Charlie and Claire.

Juan Galeano is currently working as a consultant for the Cleveland Foundation, leading their Coronavirus Vaccine Outreach and Latinx Power-Building strategy. He also led their grantmaking strategy around the 2020 Census.

Over the past 12 years, he has held a variety of roles in the philanthropic and nonprofit sector where he worked to engage, empower and elevate the voices of systemically marginalized communities. Juan began his career as a faith-based organizer in Central Florida, where he worked on issue campaigns such as Reducing the Over Arresting of Children for minor offenses and increasing access to primary health care for the uninsured. He is the son of immigrants from Colombia and the first member of his family to be born in the United States. Juan earned a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Temple University.

Juan is an alumnus of the National Urban Fellow program and the Hispanics in Philanthropy Líderes Fellowship program. He seeks to strengthen marginalized communities so that they can build and exercise their power how they see fit.

Camille R. Gill is the programs and grants counsel for the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation. She is responsible for the oversight of the foundation’s grants management, as well as the assessment of grantees. At the foundation, she works on projects related to access to justice issues, including racial justice, equity and inclusion.

She collaborates with expert consultants hired by the foundation to support grantees in the areas of community economic development and in improving technology processes. Additionally, she leads the foundation’s Justice for All Fellowship programs for new attorneys and summer law clerks. She has devoted her career to nonprofit legal services, having previously served as associate director of immigration legal services at Catholic Charities in Cleveland, and a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, practicing in the areas of immigration, tax, barriers to employment, domestic relations and public benefits.

Camille graduated from the University of Toledo College of Law and received her bachelor’s degree in international relations and a minor in Spanish from the University of Cincinnati. She is a member of the American Bar Association, The Columbus Bar Association and the Ohio State Bar Association. She is an active member of Philanthropy Ohio and Peak Grantmaking. She also serves as the legal advisor to the Cuyahoga County Immigration Legal Services Fund and serves as a representative of the Diocese of Cleveland’s Welcoming the Stranger Committee for the Diocese’s Immigrant Assistance Fund, both of which provide funding to support immigrant communities in Northeast Ohio.

Sharna Goldseker is today’s leading expert on multigenerational and next generation philanthropy and—as a next gen donor herself—offers a trusted insider’s perspective. As founder of 21/64, a nonprofit practice serving next gen and multigenerational philanthropic families, Sharna has mastered and developed the industry’s gold-standard tools for transforming how families who give will define their values, collaborate, and govern in the decades ahead. She has been a leading and consistent presence in the philanthropic field for two decades and is known for her quiet gravitas and insight. Today, prominent nonprofits, philanthropic networks, and foundations look to Sharna for her expertise in training, facilitation, and as a keynote speaker, regarding next generation engagement and multigenerational advising. Sharna is the co-author of the best seller, Generation Impact: How Next Gen Donors Are Revolutionizing Giving published by Wiley. She and her co-author received the 2019 AFP/Skystone Partners Research Prize for Excellence in Academic Research. She received the 2017 Family Wealth Report Award for Best Philanthropy Practice, was named one of 2016’s “Women of Influence” by New York Business Journal and one of 2014’s “Women to Watch” by Jewish Women International.

Sharna earned a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s in public administration in nonprofit management from NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, where she was the inaugural Charles H. Tenney Fellow.

Sharna currently serves on the board of directors of the Goldseker Foundation, a foundation established by her great-uncle, and is a member of the Collaboration for Family Flourishing, a network of leading family wealth advisors. She is married with two children.

Emily Gresham Wherle oversees all of Interact for Health’s internal and external communications activities. She works closely with staff members and key stakeholders to implement communications strategies, including media relations, social media, brand management and sponsorships.

Before coming to Interact for Health, Emily was the public information administrator for the Northern Kentucky Health Department. During her 14 years with NKY Health, Emily managed communications efforts, including media relations, employee communications, marketing communications and crisis communications. She was the lead public health spokesperson during the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, and assisted with advocacy around syringe access exchange programs. Early in her career, Emily worked at a Cincinnati-based public relations agency.

Emily holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in journalism from the Missouri School of Journalism. She is a member of the National Public Health Information Coalition and a 2016 graduate of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Northern Kentucky program. Outside work, Emily serves as a troop leader for the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio and is active in the Northern Kentucky Mothers of Multiples club.

Emily Hammel-Shaver helps visionary leaders grow their organizations to the next level of success by developing a clear brand voice, compelling messaging and captivating designs that communicate their unique value and attract their ideal audiences.

By developing the marketing, sales and communications tools her clients need to reach the next level of success, Emily helps organizations express their difference, convey their mission and connect with their best customers, which have included American Express, Verizon, and Sub-Zero-Wolf.

A proponent of mindful growth in all areas of life, Emily also delivers self-care workshops for busy professionals who want to lead and love all aspects of their lives.

Learn more about Emily, her work, and clients at www.LumosCommunications.com.

Claudia Y.W. Herrold serves as Philanthropy Ohio’s Chief Communications & Public Policy Officer, working in the fields she’s long had a passion for – passions that started in high school when she worked in her first political campaign and was editor of her high school newspaper. She built her skills and knowledge in journalism and political science when she attended college in Washington, D.C., and then graduate school at the University of Michigan. Claudia has worked at Philanthropy Ohio since 1998, one of two “veteran” employees who have seen the organization grow into its current vision.

When she’s not overseeing the website, blog, newsletters, reports and marketing efforts or advocating on philanthropy’s behalf with state and federal officials, Claudia plays with her grandchildren, knits, reads, gardens and plays bridge.

Since 2007, Deborah Hoover has served as president and CEO of Burton D. Morgan Foundation, Northeast Ohio's philanthropic champion of the entrepreneurial spirit. She was appointed trustee ex officio of the foundation in 2020. The Burton D. Morgan Foundation seeks to build the entrepreneurial mindset in students through educational and experiential opportunities that target problem-solving and innovation skills. For adult entrepreneurs, the foundation works with its ecosystem partners to provide new ventures and their founders with access to knowledge, mentors and financing.

Ms. Hoover received the Northeast Ohio EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2014 in the Educational Services & Nonprofit category. She serves on the Team NEO Board and as board chair of the Bounce Innovation Hub in Akron. Ms. Hoover serves on the national Board of Candid, the leading source of information about philanthropy worldwide, as chair of the governance committee and member of the executive committee.

Ms. Hoover earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Williams College and a Master of Arts in Art History from the University of Chicago. She continued graduate studies at George Washington University National Law Center where she earned a Juris Doctor degree. She is a member of the bar in the District of Columbia, New Hampshire and Ohio. She also holds an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Baldwin Wallace University. Ms. Hoover received a second master’s degree in cultural history from Kent State University in December 2018.

Leah D. Hudnall serves as director of the Ohio Climate Justice Fund (OCJF), which is guided by an advisory committee of Ohio environmental advocates and leaders whose charge is to make investments in Black, Indigenous and People of Color organizations in Ohio, working at the intersection of racial justice and climate action. Launched with seed funding and support from the George Gund Foundation, Energy Foundation and the Cleveland Foundation, the OCJF advances accessible community education and community listening efforts centered on creating a sustainable, equitable future for Ohio.

For over 16 years, Sheri Chaney Jones has improved the social sector using performance management, evaluation and organizational behavior best practices. Her experience and expertise has transformed measurement cultures and as a result, saved public dollars, improved outcomes, demonstrated effectiveness and increased revenues.

Sheri is a leading thought leader on public sector evaluation and applied organizational research. Ms. Jones is the author of Impact & Excellence: Data-Driven Strategies for Aligning Mission, Culture, and Performance in Nonprofit and Government Organizations (Jossey Bass, 2014). This book provides government and nonprofit leaders a proven path to increase the evaluation and assessment capacity of their organizations. Sheri is an international speaker on measurement best practices and the use of evaluation results for improved public sector organizational efficiencies and outcomes.

At Franklin University’s Management and Leadership Program, Sheri teaches organizational behavior. In addition, she designed and taught the Creating a Measurement Culture course as part of Ohio’s Certified Public Managers program provided through the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University. Through her work, she has provided advisory and consulting services based upon evaluation best practices to the following units within The Ohio State University: The Kirwan Institute of the Study of Race and Ethnicity, The Center for Family Research, The Center for Learning Excellence and The Fisher College of Business.

Prior to founding Measurement Resources, Sheri served as the performance center manager for the Ohio Department of Aging, deputy director for performance evaluation with the Franklin County Juvenile Court and organizational researcher for a Columbus-based consulting firm, Decision Support Services, Inc. Sheri holds a Master of Arts degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Central Michigan University and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from The Ohio State University.

As a passionate advocate for human rights, work/life balance and women’s empowerment, Sheri believes that her mission is to act as the “pebble” that creates a ripple effect through her family, employees, community, clients and then out to the world at large. This was exemplified as she was the recipient of the “Woman-Owned Business of the Year” award from the U.S. Small Business Administration in 2017. Sheri’s passion shines as she balances her career with the raising of her four children with her husband Matt. You will often find Sheri cheering on her kids, volunteering at her church and in the community and spending time with family and friends.

Susan R. Jones is a professor of clinical law and a member of the full-time faculty at The George Washington University Law School. Since 1988, she has been director and supervising attorney of the Small Business & Community Economic Development Clinic (SBCED Clinic). She is an active member of the District of Columbia Bar having served as vice-chair to the D.C. Bar (CED) Pro Bono Project Advisory Committee. She was a 2006 Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Maryland School of Law and in 2003–2004 she was the Haywood Burns Visiting Chair in Civil Rights at the City University of New York School of Law at Queens College.

Professor Jones was the 2006 chair of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Clinical Legal Education and she served on the executive committee of that section and as chair of the Section on Africa. She was a member of the AALS Standing Committee on Clinical Legal Education and is a former chair of the AALS Section on Poverty Law. (She also served on the Executive Committee of the AALS Section on Transactional Law and Skills and as co-chair of the Transactional Clinics Committee of the AALS Clinical Section.)

In addition to her work with the AALS, Professor Jones has held numerous leadership positions in the American Bar Association (ABA) (including vice-chair of the Economic Justice Committee, Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice,) service on the governing committee of ABA Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law, editor-in-chief and senior editor of the ABA Journal of Affordable Housing and Community Development Law and co-chair of the Forum’s Legal Educators’ Practice Division. She is a co-founder and past co-chair of the Community Economic Development Committee of the ABA Section on Business Law and she served on the ABA Business Law Education Committee as well as on the ABA Commission on Homelessness and Poverty.

Professor Jones is a Fannie Mae Foundation Fellow, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government (2002) and a member of Leadership Washington (1996). Her scholarly pursuits include numerous published articles in the field of entrepreneurship and the law, small and microbusiness and community economic development.) She is the author of A Legal Guide to Microenterprise Development (ABA Publishing) and co-editor of Building Healthy Communities: A Guide to Community Economic Development for Advocates, Lawyers and Policymakers. Professor Jones was awarded Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award for distinctive service to the greater Washington, D.C. creative community and for 20 years of service on the WALA Board of Directors. In addition to her scholarly and practical work in transactional law, small business, community economic development, microenterprise development and social entrepreneurship, Professor Jones has research interests in community economic development, international/comparative community economic development, nonprofit organizations and charitable giving, minority entrepreneurship, arts and entertainment and the creative economy and social entrepreneurship.

Andrew Katusin joined the Cleveland Foundation in August 2021 as the Program Officer, Grantmaking Initiatives where he will oversee various investments across the nonprofit sector in Cuyahoga, Lake, and Geauga Counties. Prior to joining the Foundation, Andrew served as the Director of Basic Needs at United Way of Greater Cleveland and managed the organization’s responsive grantmaking in the areas of housing, homeless services, and food access. In addition, he supported the Community Investment team’s special projects including Right to Counsel and the Family Stability Initiative.

Andrew is a Licensed Social Worker and holds a Master of Social Science Administration from the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Loyola University Chicago. Andrew serves on the Community Advisory Council for the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency and volunteers with the Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation in his neighborhood.

Dan became the Executive Director of the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio in August of 2015.

He earned both his Bachelors, in elementary and secondary education, and his Master’s, in education administration with an emphasis in gifted education, from Purdue University. Dan’s Ph.D. is from Cleveland State University in urban education.

Prior to becoming Executive Director at Jennings, Dan worked in six school districts. He taught secondary science in three:

• Frankfort Schools and West Lafayette School Corporation in Indiana and Steubenville High School in Ohio.

…and served as an administrator in three:

• Maple Heights City Schools as a high school administrator and later the district’s personnel director
• five years at Kenston Local Schools as assistant superintendent, and
• seven years as superintendent of the Westlake City Schools.

In 2002, the American Association of School Administrators recognized Dan with the Paul B. Salmon Award, for his doctoral work on the change process in secondary schools, one of six nationally. He was the recipient of Cleveland State’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012 for his contributions to public education and in 2014 he was honored by the Buckeye Association of School Administrators as Ohio Superintendent of the Year. 

Dan is married to Dr. Heather Keenan, who serves as the gifted coordinator for the North Olmsted City Schools. Together they have two sons and reside in Westlake, Ohio.

Nat Kendall-Taylor serves as chief executive officer at the FrameWorks Institute. Nat oversees the organization’s pioneering research-based approach to strategic communications, which uses methods from the social and behavioral sciences to measure how people understand complex socio-political issues and tests ways to reframe them to drive social change. As CEO, he leads a multi-disciplinary team of social scientists and communications practitioners who investigate ways to apply innovative framing research methods to social issues and train nonprofit organizations to put the findings into practice.

An expert in psychological anthropology and communications science, Nat publishes widely in the popular and professional press and lectures frequently in the United States and abroad. His work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as Science Communication, Human Organization, Applied Communications Research, Child Abuse and Neglect, and the Annals of Anthropological Practice. He has presented at numerous conferences and organizations in the United States and around the world, ranging from Harvard University and the National Academy of Sciences to the Parenting Research Centre in Australia, the Science and Society Symposium in Canada and Amnesty International in the United Kingdom. He is a senior fellow at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, a visiting professor at the Child Study Center at Yale School of Medicine and a fellow at the British-American Project.

Nat joined FrameWorks in 2008; since then, he has led work across the FrameWorks portfolio, with a special focus on issues related to early childhood development and mental health, criminal justice and aging. He has also led the expansion of FrameWorks’ work outside the United States, working in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Kenya, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Prior to joining FrameWorks, Nat’s research focused on understanding the social and cultural factors that create health disparities and affect decision-making. He has conducted fieldwork on the Swahili coast of Kenya, where he studied pediatric epilepsy, traditional healing and the impacts of chronic illness on family well-being; and in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, where he studied child marriage and higher education. He has also conducted ethnographic research on theories of motivation in “extreme” athletes. Nat holds a bachelor of arts degree from Emory University and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Tina Kimbrough serves as an education program officer at The Nord Family Foundation.  Prior to joining the foundation, Tina worked for Oberlin College as an assistant director of admissions focusing on multicultural recruitment. Within that role, Tina worked with the Posse Scholars Foundation, QuestBridge Foundation, as well as College Horizons to increase the number of students of color attending highly selective colleges and universities.

Prior to working at Oberlin College, Tina served as an AmeriCorps college advisor for Pontiac School District in Pontiac, Michigan. During her time as a college advisor, Tina helped build a college-going culture by focusing on college admission and scholarship opportunities for Pell-eligible students.

Tina serves on Philanthropy Ohio’s Education Initiative Steering Committee and is a graduate of Exponent Philanthropy's 2020 Next Gen Fellowship program.

She holds a bachelor’s in sociology from The University of Michigan and a Master of Education degree from Loyola University Chicago. In her spare time, Tina enjoys traveling and spending time with her family.

Landsman is the son of teachers, a former teacher himself, and has been focused on getting meaningful results for children and families as a member of Cincinnati’s City Council.

The former leader of the nationally recognized StrivePartnership, Landsman spearheaded the successful Cincinnati Preschool Promise, which provides two years of quality preschool in Cincinnati. The investment has proven to be transformative for thousands of 3- and 4-year-olds.

He has extensive national, state, local and global experience and believes strongly in the power of people who come together to accomplish big things.

Landsman earned a bachelor’s degree from Ohio University in Economic and Political Science and a master’s in theological studies from Harvard University. He was elected to City Council in 2017, and lives in Mt. Washington with his wife Sarah and his two children, Maddie and Elijah.

Heather Lenz is the CEO and founder of Sangfroid Strategy, an evaluation, strategy and implementation firm headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. For the past 15 years, Heather has facilitated several local and statewide initiatives across governments, nonprofits and public-private partnerships. Heather’s approach draws on the intersection of design thinking, systems change and organizational development.

As an evaluator at heart, Heather is passionate about helping organizations prioritize listening and learning as a pathway to transformation. In addition to her leadership of Sangfroid Strategy, Heather Lenz is an adjunct instructor with the Mandel School for Applied Social Sciences at Case Western for program evaluation and needs assessment. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Intercultural Communication and Sociology from Arizona State University in 2008, and her Master of Arts degree in Environmental Studies with an emphasis on Nonprofit Administration and Leadership from Cleveland State University in 2012. She has certifications in Asset-Based Community Development, Appreciative Inquiry, Equitable Evaluation, Project Management, Technology for Nonprofits, Design Thinking for Social Change and Design Thinking in Strategic Planning.

As director of corporate and community partnerships for Scotts Miracle-Gro, Su is responsible for the company’s key business and philanthropic partnerships, enterprise-wide corporate giving strategy and community outreach programming. She also serves as vice president of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation and secretary of The Hagedorn Legacy Foundation. Her career as a communications and philanthropy professional has included positions at AT&T, Lucent Technologies and Huntington National Bank.

Su is also active in her community through volunteerism and board service. She served as chair of the Mount Carmel Foundation and led the foundation’s Marketing Advisory Council, as well as the Development and Governance Committee. Su is also a trustee for Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens and currently serves as board president. She also supports Keep Ohio Beautiful as a board member and chair of the group’s Board Development Committee.

A graduate of The Ohio State University, Su earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism, with a minor in Communications.

Stephen Love joined the Foundation in 2014 as part of the community responsive grantmaking team. In this capacity, Stephen also managed the Foundation’s Summer Internship Program and oversaw implementation of the Cleveland Foundation Public Service Fellowship. In 2018, Stephen became the Foundation’s Environment Program Officer, overseeing development of an Environmental Grantmaking strategy, including efforts to protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the parks and greenspaces we enjoy by supporting policies and practices that link environmental protection, climate action, health, equity and economic prosperity.

Prior to joining the foundation in 2014, Stephen worked for the Cuyahoga Land Bank, researching and compiling property data for vacant property reuse opportunities as part of the President’s Special Projects team. Additionally, he served as an AmeriCorps VISTA with Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, focusing on neighborhood stabilization and urban agriculture projects. Stephen founded a volunteer beach cleanup and advocacy effort directed at improving Euclid Beach Park. Previously, he served on the board of directors of the Cleveland Lakefront Conservancy and the Northeast Shores Development Corporation. 

Michelle Lydenberg helps to coordinate Interact for Health’s evaluation efforts to understand the progress we are making and the impact of our work in the region. She leads the development and implementation of evaluation and learning plans for projects within Interact for Health’s grant making portfolios. She currently serves as the lead evaluator for the opioid and Thriving Community focus areas.
Michelle previously worked as the Director of the Partners for a Drug-Free Milford Miami Township. She has also worked as the Injury Prevention Coordinator at Clermont County Public Health and the Coalition Coordinator for South Boston Collaborative Advisory Network.

Michelle holds a master’s of science degree in Urban and Regional Policy from Northeastern University’s School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the College of Wooster.
Outside of work, Michelle enjoys dance, traveling and spending time with her husband and son.
 

Working at May Dugan since 2010, Sue Marasco works with executive director Rick Kemm to build programming that recognizes the effects of trauma on the community we serve. Partnering with like-minded agencies and the state Trauma Informed Care initiative, Sue continues to use published best practices and resources to develop a network of care for our most vulnerable community members.

Ph.D. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 2008

Trauma-Informed-Train-The-Trainer Certificate, Ohio Department of Disabilities, Mental Health and Addiction Services, North East Ohio Region, Kim Kehl, Project Supervisor, 2015.

Christine Amer Mayer is president of GAR Foundation. Mayer guides the foundation’s strategic direction and annual grantmaking which focuses heavily on education and economic development.
An Akron native, Mayer practiced commercial litigation and business law for eight years with Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs in its Columbus, Cleveland, and Akron offices. She joined GAR Foundation in 2001 as a program officer. She was named president of the foundation in 2012.

Mayer is the immediate past Chair of United Way of Summit County, where she remains involved in its transformation to a community impact model. She is heavily involved in economic development work, sitting on the steering committee of the Elevate Greater Akron effort, on the board of the Greater Akron Chamber, on the Akron Growth Council, and on the executive committee of the Fund for Our Economic Future. In recent years, she has focused considerable efforts on Summit County’s arts and cultural assets, helping to lead the Summit County Arts and Culture Assessment. That countywide study led to the creation of ArtsNow, a sector-strengthening initiative for which she served as a board officer for the past six years. Mayer was elected to the board of trustees of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in September 2016. She serves on the Governance and Program Committees. Mayer earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Duke University and a law degree from The Ohio State University.

Quentin began his career in public service, yet quickly gained experiences as an administrator, strategist and community leader while serving leadership roles in government, healthcare, banking, and non-profit sectors. He previously served as President and CEO for a distribution services company. His focus at Paradigm is business development and community relations.

Active civically, Quentin is the former Board Chair of Ohio Means Jobs Cleveland/Cuyahoga County; serves on the Executive Committee of Cleveland Development Advisors; and a member of both Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. and 100 Black Men of Greater Cleveland. In addition, he has been recognized by Crain’s Cleveland Business 40 Under 40, Kaleidoscope 40 Under 40, and has served on the Board Nominating Panel for the Cleveland Metropolitan Schools and the Governor’s Judicial Advisory Committee.

He holds a MPA from Cleveland State University and BA in Political Science from Jackson State University.

Lila Mills has been with Neighborhood Connections for 8 years where she has focused on lifting up the stories of residents making positive change in Cleveland and East Cleveland -- first as the editor of the grassroots newspaper Greater University Circle Neighborhood Voice and, since 2015, as the program’s communications manager. Born and raised on the southeast side of Cleveland, Lila spent 10 years as a journalist prior to coming to Neighborhood Connections.

John Mitterholzer is the Foundation’s program director for Climate and Environmental Justice. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2008, he was a program officer at The Cleveland Foundation. John is the former chair of the Funders Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities, the current co-chair of the Climate and Energy Funders Group and an active member of the Environmental Grantmakers Association.

He holds a B.A. in history from Baldwin Wallace University and an M.A. in history from the University of Memphis.

Mike Moroski is an elected representative of the Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education, and the policy & partnership manager at Cradle Cincinnati. Moroski also serves as a trustee for Camp Joy, a camp that specializes in helping people grow through experience-based learning. The camp focuses on children with lack of access to resources, children in foster care and children with serious health concerns.

Previously, Moroski served as the executive director of UpSpring (the only nonprofit in the southwest Ohio region that exclusively serves the educational needs of children experiencing homelessness), as a teacher at Moeller High School and as assistant principal at Purcell Marian High School. He is also a former member of the Southwest Ohio Region Workforce Investment Board and the City of Cincinnati’s Human Advisory Committee.

Moroski earned a Master of Arts at Xavier University and his Master of Nonprofit Administration at the University of Notre Dame. He received the Jefferson Award for his dedication to affordable housing preservation and his commitment to reducing barriers for those returning from prison; earned Xavier University’s highest honor for a young graduate, the Magis Award, for his service to the City of Cincinnati; was named to the Business Courier’s Forty Under 40 Class of 2011; received The Human Rights Campaign’s Ally Award for his public defense of marriage equality which cost him his job at a Catholic school; and was awarded the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award by his high school alma mater, Marist High School.

He and his wife Katie live in Downtown Cincinnati with two cats Eddie & Rosie, their English Bulldog Biggie and are the parents of a future CPS student.

Lisa Myers supports Interact for Health’s work to address the opioid epidemic. Lisa collaborates with community partners to develop and implement strategies to reduce the harm of drug use and prevent deaths from opioid overdoses.

Previously, Lisa served as a Financial Specialist for Interact, which included coordinating accounts payable and grants payable and ensuring accurate processing of all payments. She managed the receipt of cash, checks and credit cards; and assisted with the monthly close and annual audit.

Before joining Interact for Health, Lisa served as assistant to the township clerk at Batavia Township.

She holds a Master of Business Administration from Northern Kentucky University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgetown College.

Fallon Peterson, M.A., CHES®, serves as a health & social services program officer at The Nord Family Foundation. She is responsible for reviewing grants consistent with the foundation’s mission, with the core value of service to the under-resourced, ensuring access to basic services that support the overall well-being of children, youth, families and communities.

Fallon is a graduate of Exponent Philanthropy's 2020 Next Gen Fellowship program and Rockwood Leadership Institute’s Art of Leadership program.

Fallon holds a Bachelor of Chemistry degree from Hampton University and a Master of Science in Health Education with a concentration in Public and Community Health from the University of Cincinnati. In addition, Fallon is a Certified Health Education Specialist. She lives in Cleveland, where she enjoys playing sports and spending time with family.

Heather was appointed by Mayor Horrigan as the City of Akron’s first Innovation and Entrepreneurship Advocate in 2017. She is the voice of entrepreneurs and small business owners inside city hall, supporting existing and emerging efforts to bolster Akron’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and promoting a culture of entrepreneurship throughout Akron.

Heather’s career path includes a degree in opera and several years managing a $400 million global footwear line for Nike before returning to her Northeast Ohio roots to work in nonprofit and now the public sector. Heather currently serves as chair of the Minority Business Assistance Center advisory board, as well as on advisory boards for ECDI, the University of Akron Institute for Leadership Advancement and Stark State Business Management and Marketing Department. She was a 2016 recipient of the Greater Akron Chamber’s 30 For the Future award.

Her vision is for Akron’s streets to be alive with people and art, its storefronts full of thriving small businesses and its tech as locally sourced as its food. When she’s not actively working on this vision, she can be found on the trails of Cuyahoga Valley National Park training for an ultramarathon, wrangling her two precocious children or lost in the pages of a long novel.

Teresa Sanders is the chief program officer at YWCA Greater Cleveland. She leads a diverse team that facilitates transformative programs in early childhood education, homeless services and housing for transitioned aged youth.

Teresa holds a Master of Science in Criminal Justice Administration and is an Independently Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor. She has served as a consultant for the Center for Drug Abuse Treatment and the Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board. In addition, she is a co-founder of the Trauma Addictions Collaborative, spearheading the integration of trauma services into Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) treatment in Cuyahoga County. Because of her deep subject matter expertise and extensive experience, Teresa is recognized as a thought leader on the issues of developing trauma-informed systems of care, racial equity and the advancement of women. She believes in demonstrating evidence of effectiveness and drives the implementation of a performance-based culture at YWCA Greater Cleveland.

Teresa is a member of New Community Bible Fellowship where she serves in the Christian Education Program and the Bulletin Prep team. She and her husband Darby are the proud parents of Julian and Claudia, and grandparents to three beautiful granddaughters. 

Peter Schindler joined Community West Foundation in 2000 and has served as the senior program officer since 2010. Since then, he has worked with the foundation’s Board of Directors to facilitate making over $100 million in grants to community non-profits that provide services to the disenfranchised members of our community. Peter attended NYU, Antioch College and CSU and earned degrees in psychology and religious studies. He currently represents Community West Foundation on the Greater Cleveland Rapid Response Fund Phase II Workgroup as well as the Homeless Services Taskforce. Peter also serves on the Cuyahoga County Office of Homeless Services Advisory Board and the United Way Grant Review Committee.

Big Change Consulting’s Principal, Jodi Segal, has been helping nonprofit organizations start up, gear up, and clean up their operations, HR, and fundraising for 25 years. She has built strong and successful programs at growing local, state, and national organizations. After repeatedly witnessing nonprofits struggle with effective and efficient operations, Jodi recognized the lack of services to help. She designed a unique scope of work for Big Change Consulting to solve these problems. The benefit of Jodi’s experience for organizations is she sees around corners and designs streamlined solutions that last. She is passionate about partnering with leaders to solve operations challenges so they can focus on the critical work of fulfilling their mission.

Prior to founding Big Change Consulting, Jodi was Deputy Director at the Ohio Environmental Council. During her 13-year tenure there she built their development department, oversaw marketing and communications, led administration, finance, HR, and special projects. She has also held successful development and operations roles at organizations in Massachusetts and California. Jodi lives in Central Ohio with her husband, two children, their elderly dog, and her kids’ 26 fish.

Mike began his career in the investment advisory industry in 1999, joined Clearstead in 2006, and became a shareholder in 2010. Mike leverages his many years of institutional investment consulting experience to serve as Clearstead’s Head of Institutional Consulting. In this role, he sets the direction and manages the firm’s institutional consulting practice and OCIO business (PRISM OCIO®). As a member of the Executive Committee, Mike leads efforts to deliver innovative solutions to clients, grow our practice, and mentor our talented professionals. Mike also continues to manage some of the firm’s most complex institutional clients.
Mike obtained his MBA from the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University, and his BA from Wittenberg University. Prior to joining Clearstead, Mike led the investment advisory product management and investment operations functions for two large regional banks. Mike currently serves on the Board of the Community Foundation of Lorain County as Chair of the Foundation’s Investment Committee.

Elon joined Crane Group in 2019 and was named Vice President of Community Impact in 2020. Elon is responsible for the planning and oversight of the philanthropy program, which includes strategic community engagement, volunteerism, educational programs, board engagement, charitable contributions, and Crane Group’s social impact investments. In this role, Elon works to maintain open dialogue and partnership with change agents in nonprofits, business, and civic groups to further establish Crane Group’s founding value to “act as leaders and stewards to our community.”

Prior to joining Crane Group, Elon worked in public service. He began his career at Franklin County Children Services as a Child Welfare Caseworker. In this role, Elon provided professional level of care and case management services to children & families. He then joined The Ohio State University, serving as the director of field education in the College of Social Work where he was also a graduate of the Leadership in Human Service Management Program. As director, he managed the student field practicums in non-profit organizations and maintained strategic partnerships with over 800 social service agencies and programs. Additionally, Elon also served as the director of community affairs for the City of Columbus where he was responsible for overseeing projects and initiatives of the Mayor’s Office regarding constituent services, external affairs, and community relations.

Elon currently serves on the boards of Franklin County Children Services, Besa, and is engaged in several community advisory councils, workgroups, and committees.

Elon earned his Bachelor of Science in Social Work and Master of Social Work degrees from The Ohio State University. He has also successfully completed the Young Americans Leadership Program at the Harvard Business School.

Elon lives in northeast Columbus with his wife, two young sons, and energetic puppy, Mitzy.

Barbra Stonerock joined The Dayton Foundation in 2005 as a Legacy Partnership Program development officer and now serves as the vice president of community engagement. Barbra’s career includes seven years as the executive director of the Arthritis Foundation, Dayton branch, and vice president of Development for the Cancer Prevention Institute. In her spare time, Barbra volunteers for the Dayton Art Institute. Barbra has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Wright State University.

Tim became the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Saint Luke’s Foundation on June 1, 2020. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing and guiding the work of the foundation to advance the pursuit of health equity in the Saint Luke’s neighborhoods and throughout Cuyahoga County. Tim leads, directs, and coordinates the activities of the foundation in accordance with the policies, goals, and objectives established by the Board of Trustees and articulated through the foundation’s strategic plan.

Before joining the foundation, Tim served as a highly regarded leader in the field of community development. While forging the growth of Burten, Bell, Carr Development, Inc. (BBC), Tim oversaw multimillion-dollar real estate development projects in Cleveland’s poorest neighborhoods, founded WOVU 95.9FM Community Radio Station, and led the creation of BoxSpot micro-enterprise development in addition to many other innovative community revitalization programs and projects. Before joining BBC, Tim spent five years in various roles at the Cleveland Department of Public Health.

Tim earned a Master of Public Administration degree from Cleveland State University where he also earned his graduate certification in Non-profit Management. His Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science was obtained from Central State University and he is certified as an Economic Development Finance Professional by the National Development Council. Tim is a proud graduate of East High, a closed school of the Cleveland Municipal School District (CMSD).

Tim was born and raised in the Hough neighborhood of Cleveland and resides in the Fairfax neighborhood of Cleveland with his wife Latrice and daughter Tierra.

Peter enjoys life, laughter and purpose. Peter’s career spans 20 years, and the most recent 10 years include working as the principal leader of Enlightenment Consulting Group, LLC. He has supported leaders and teams, from government to higher education. Additionally, he has facilitated high-tension large group conversations, deep dive learning experiences and has led leadership development programs, evaluations and community assessments.

His community engagement skills have supported leaders and neighborhoods on topics of leadership, policing and racism. Peter has presented at national conferences and internationally, addressing diversity equity and inclusion through a polarity lens. He has also worked as a trainer for Corporate College and worked as a community therapist for Ohio Guidestone. Peter additionally served as a program manager at Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority where he managed a workforce development program, and as director of community outreach at St. Vincent Charity Hospital where he established a community health care worker program and led a community health prevention initiative. He continued his leadership as the associate director for the Center for Health Equity at Cleveland State University, where he managed a $1 million research effort centered on academic and community partnerships within the central neighborhood.

His work required a need to address social determinants of health, race and health inequities through a public lens. Over the years, Peter has lectured at Cleveland State University for the Diversity Management Program, School of Social Work and Health Sciences.

Peter has advanced training and certifications in organizational interventions and coaching through the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland. He holds a mastery certification in Polarity Thinking through Polarity Partnerships. Peter is a licensed social worker and is an alumnus of Cleveland State University (Bachelor of Social Work) and the University of Pittsburgh (Master Social Work) with concentration in community organizing.

He enjoys participating in martial arts and has earned the title Maha Guru (enior Teacher) in the style of KunTao and Silat system lineage of W. Reeders and A. Sikes. He is a native of Cleveland where he values his residential lived experiences, having emerged from the urban core of the near east and westside communities.

Shaun Yoder’s 22-year career in education spans teaching in a rural public school classroom, staffing the Ohio legislature and governor, connecting business leaders to education leaders, and consulting across the nation for education-focused organizations and philanthropies. He joined the Ohio Department of Education in 2017 and is chief architect of Each Child, Our Future, Ohio’s co-created, five-year strategic plan for education. The plan trumpets a collective vision for student success, one state-level goal, and a set of supporting strategies—all rooted in equity, partnerships, and quality schools. Yoder previously served as a senior consultant at Education First for seven years. Prior to that, he led the Business Alliance for Higher Education and the Economy, a 501(c)(3) affiliate of the Ohio Business Roundtable. He also served as a policy assistant for Ohio Gov. Bob Taft and staffed the Ohio Senate Education Committee. He began his career teaching special education in West Jefferson, Ohio. A first-generation college graduate, Yoder is passionate about education policy, practice, and partnerships.

Ashlee Young is committed to serving the community and lives by the words of Marian Wright Edelman “Service is the rent we pay for living. It is the very purpose of life and not something you do in your spare time.” Ashlee lives by those words in her professional and personal life.

Ashlee is vice president of policy and strategic initiatives at the Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio (ULGSO). In this role, she leads the development and execution of ULGSO’s policy and advocacy framework which focuses on systemic and equitable policy change. She also works with partners to accelerate the growth of ULGSO, addresses emerging community needs and leads the organization’s COVID-19 efforts.

Ashlee brings over 10 years of experience in public health, nonprofit, government and philanthropy sectors. She holds a Master of Public Health with a concentration in health behavior/health promotion and health education from Wright State University and a bachelor's degree from The Ohio State University. Prior to the Urban League, she was manager of community strategies at StrivePartnership where she designed and implemented strategies recognizing community authority and expertise into practices to advance education equity. She has also held positions at The Child Poverty Collaborative as a program director and as an evaluation officer at Interact for Health.

Her commitment to service and passion for people can not only be seen in her professional career but also in her personal life. Ashlee serves her community through various leadership roles. She currently serves on the board at MORTAR, Delta Gateway Foundation and as board president for Design Impact. In 2017, she was appointed to the Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board where she serves on the finance committee.

Ashlee is a 2020 recipient of the Cincinnati Business Courier’s “40 under 40” award. In 2018, Ashlee was honored by the Urban League Young Professionals of Greater Southwestern Ohio with the Affirmed YP Honor award and an award named after her: Ashlee Young Pillar of Community Award. Each year a young professional from the region will receive this award in honor of Ashlee’s dedication and commitment to serving her community. She has also been recognized by the National Society for Public Health Educators, YWCA Rising Stars, a recipient of the Journey Award from the Urban League and the Bright Award from Cincinnati Herald. Ashlee also serves as executive vice president of National Urban League Young Professionals. Ashlee is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and Queen City (OH) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated. She enjoys volunteering with these and other organizations in her community but her favorite thing to do is spend time with her daughter Nila.

Jennifer Zimmerman is the Director of Grants and Evaluation for bi3, Bethesda Inc.’s grantmaking initiative to transform the health and well being of all people in Greater Cincinnati. Jennifer leads the development of bi3’s strategy and collaborative relationships to achieve its mission. She partners with grantees to plan, implement and evaluate grant-funded initiatives. Previously, Jennifer was the principle of JCZ Consulting, LLC, a consulting firm offering evaluation, program development and strategic planning services to nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. She has served as the director of the Consortium for Resilient Young Children, director of evaluation for Learning Grove (formerly Children, Inc.) and was part of the evaluation staff at Interact for Health (formerly the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati). Jennifer serves on the Cradle Cincinnati Advisory Board, GreenLight Cincinnati Advisory Board and Bethesda Foundation Research and Grants Committee. She is a member of the Cincinnati Chamber’s C-Change Class 2 and holds a Master’s degree in Social Work with a focus in social and economic development.